The alpha-galactosidase gene (aga) of Lactococcus raffinolactis ATCC 43920 was previously shown to be an efficient food-grade selection marker in Lactococcus lactis and Pediococcus acidilactici but not in Streptococcus thermophilus. In this study, we demonstrated that the alpha-galactosidase of L. raffinolactis is thermolabile and inoperative at 42 degrees C, the optimal growth temperature of S. thermophilus. An in vitro assay indicated that the activity of this alpha-galactosidase at 42 degrees C was only 3% of that at 30 degrees C, whereas the enzyme retained 23% of its activity at 37 degrees C. Transformation of Strep. thermophilus RD733 with the shuttle-vector pNZ123 bearing the aga gene of L. raffinolactis (pRAF301) generated transformants that were stable and able to grow on melibiose and raffinose at 37 degrees C or below. The transformed cells possessed 6-fold more alpha-galactosidase activity after growth on melibiose than cells grown on lactose. Slot-blot analyses of aga mRNA indicated that repression by lactose occurred at the transcriptional level. The presence of pRAF301 did not interfere with the lactic acid production when the transformed cells of Strep. thermophilus were grown at the optimal temperature in milk. Using the recombinant plasmid pRAF301, which carries a chloramphenicol resistance gene in addition to aga, we showed that both markers were equally efficient at differentiating transformed from nontransformed cells. The aga gene of L. raffinolactis can be used as a highly efficient selection marker in Strep. thermophilus.


Business intelligence (BI) systems are one of the major computing trends during the last ten years, in developed as well as developing countries. However, as often witnessed, the implementations are to a large extent not very successful. Our concern in this paper is the decision support role of BI systems, the perceived business value of implemented systems, and their contribution to facilitate the fulfilment of organisational goals. The study builds upon deep interviews with managers in combination with a previous quantitative survey. The survey and the interviews used three categories of questions: 1) how visions, objectives, strategies are supported by BI systems; 2) how business values are derived from such systems; and 3) how design and implementation issues affect the solutions. The overall conclusion of the study is that there are major problems in all three areas although not equally dire. What clearly emerges is that much of the problems encountered come from failing to appreciate the different nature of BI systems compared to support systems for daily operational processes. Thus, a fundamental reason for BI projects not succeeding entirely is that they are being wrongfully treated as just another kind of traditional information systems.


We introduce activity-based navigation, which uses human activities derived from sensor data to help people navigate, in particular to retrace a "trail" previously taken by that person or another person. Such trails may include step counts, walking up/down stairs or taking elevators, compass directions, and photos taken along a user's path, in addition to absolute positioning (GPS and maps) when available. To explore the user experience of activity-based navigation, we built Greenfield, a mobile device interface for finding a car. We conducted a ten participant user study comparing users' ability to find cars across three different presentations of activity-based information as well as verbal instructions. Our results show that activity-based navigation can be used for car finding and suggest its promise more generally for supporting navigation tasks. We present lessons for future activity-based navigation interfaces, and motivate further work in this space, particularly in the area of robust activity inference.


Cushing syndrome is a multietiologic clinical situation, resulting in several features like obesity, hyperglycemia, hypertension, proximal muscle weakness, skin thinning, menstrual irregularities, buffalo hump, and purple striae. In perioperative period the anesthesiologist must deal with difficult ventilation and intubation, hemodynamic disturbances, volume overload and hypokalemia, glucose intolerance and diabetes, maintaining the blood cortisol level and preventing the glucocorticoid deficiency. This syndrome is quite rare and its features make these patients very difficult to the anaesthesiologist. doi:10.4021/jem5w


Advanced wind power specific systems, applications and approaches are necessary in order to function effectively. Due to the characteristics of wind power, it creates uncertainty to the electricity supply chain. In order to function efficiently in the power market business, it is crucial to recognise relevant factors and positioning their associated information. This descriptive study analyses and identifies the power market business and its accompanying information flows and connections. This paper shows that effective management of information in the electricity supply chain requires interconnections of several separate information and communication technology ICT systems. This study proposes a generic enterprise architecture to manage the data chains and information flows within the scenario of multiple energy ICT systems. As a result, this study also presents a proposal of an advanced enterprise architecture model that describes both system interconnections and wind power related information flows.


The solar energetic particle (SEP) events from im- pulsive solar flares are often characterized by short-timescale modulations affecting, at the same time, particles with dif- ferent energies. Several models and simulations suggest that these modulations are observed when SEPs propagate through magnetic structures with a different connection with the flare site. However, in situ observations rarely showed clear magnetic signatures associated with these modulations. In this paper we used the Grad-Shafranov reconstruction to perform a detailed analysis of the local magnetic field topology during the SEP event of 9-10 January 1999, charac- terized by several SEP dropouts. An optimization procedure is used to identify, during this SEP event, the magnetic struc- tures which better satisfy the Grad-Shafranov assumptions and to evaluate the direction of their invariant axis. We found that these two-dimensional structures, which are flux ropes or current sheets with a more complex field topol- ogy, are generally associated with the maxima in the SEP counts. This association suggests that the SEPs propagate within these structures and, since their gyration radii is much smaller than the transverse dimension of these structure, can- not escape from them.


We study portfolio choice for a finite-horizon investor whose labor income is cointegrated with inflation. We show that this long-run relationship has substantial impact on the riskiness of human capital and consequently on the optimal portfolio strategy. Because cointegration raises the long-run correlation between human capital and inflation, young investors' human capital effectively hedges inflation risk and crowds out the allocation to inflation-indexed bonds. However, the hedging power of human capital diminishes for older investors because of a weaker cointegration effect and less importance of human capital in total wealth. These effects together show that inflation-indexed bonds matter more for older investors than for young investors.


Companion papers develop a model of real-time hierarchical computation of resource allocations by boundedly rational members of an administrative staff. The nodes of a hierarchy are multi-person decision-making units offices. The current Paper uses a reduced form to address specific questions about organizational structure and returns to scale. We find that the possibility of decentralizing decision-making within these hierarchical organizations allows for larger hierarchies. Organization size is, however, still bounded because the combined effect of cumulative delay and administrative costs means that in large enough hierarchies, the value of the root office's information processing is less than the office's administrative costs. We also find that as the environment changes more rapidly, optimal hierarchies become smaller and more internally decentralized. A speed-up of managerial processing, such as through improved information technology, has the opposite effect.


Purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine the level of iron, its role in oxidative damage and to profile and measure the level of transcript expression of genes responsible for iron homeostasis in lenses of human cataracts. Materials and methods: Human whole lenses (WLs) were obtained from donors' eyes (n = 33) within 8 hours of death. A total of 167 (control, n = 35 and cataract, n = 132) anterior central capsules (ACC) harboring lens epithelial cells (LECs) and lens aspirate containing LECs, primary and secondary lens fiber cells (LFCs) were collected postoperatively. Control samples were obtained mainly from patients suffered from lenticular trauma or subjected for myopic corrections. Lenticular total iron was determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Comet assay using lens epithelial cells was performed to determine the oxidative DNA damages. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to profile and determine the level of transcript expression of genes of iron homeostasis in lenses. An in vitro culture model using fetal human lens epithelial cell line (FHL124) was used to validate the effect of iron on oxidative DNA damage and expression of iron homeostasis genes. Results: Cortical cataract (CC) had significantly higher levels of iron (58.89 ± 20.56 μg/g dry tissue weight, p = 0.00) than control lenses (17.82 ± 5.29 μg/g dry tissue weight) and revealed a significant increase in tail length (μ) (79.59 ± 21.31 vs. control, 66.56 ± 15.68; p = 0.005) and olive moment (29.69 ± 10.31 vs. control, 26.97 ± 8.12, p = 0.018) by Comet assay in LECs. Fetal human lens epithelial cell line (FHL124) treated with 500 μM (concentration equivalent to lenticular iron level in CC) of ferric chloride (FeCl3), revealed a significant increase in tail length (μ) (80.71 ± 8.63 vs. control, 62.55 ± 6.63; p = 0.01), tail DNA (%) (44.01 ± 18.02 vs. control 27.39 ± 5.14; p = 0.05), tail moment (36.87 ± 17.33 vs. control, 18.1 ± 3.41; p = 0.02) and olive moment (27.41 ± 6.72 vs. control, 18.88 ± 2.86; p = 0.02) suggestive of substantial DNA damage. QRT-PCR analysis displayed elevated level of iron responsive element (IRE) containing DMT1 (IRE-DMT1, 1.99 ± 0.34 fold change to control, p = 0.046) and diminished level of FTH (0.13 ± 0.02-fold change to control; p = 0.01) in lenses of CC. However, in vitro model, though displayed a conflicting data as compare to human samples, exhibited a conventional coordinated regulation of iron within the system. Conclusion: In conclusion, differential transcript expression of genes responsible for iron uptake (IRE-DMT1) and storage (FTH) might lead to an increase in iron over-load in human lenses. Iron-over load could potentially accelerate the cascade of mechanisms leading to oxidative damage, as evident by increased level of DNA damage in cortical cataract and also in FHL124 cells treated with FeCl3.


Abstract. Cloud covers are generally present in optical remote-sensing images, which limit the usage of acquired images and increase the difficulty of data analysis, such as image compositing, correction of atmosphere effects, calculations of vegetation induces, land cover classification, and land cover change detection. In previous studies, thresholding is a common and useful method in cloud detection. However, a selected threshold is usually suitable for certain cases or local study areas, and it may be failed in other cases. In other words, thresholding-based methods are data-sensitive. Besides, there are many exceptions to control, and the environment is changed dynamically. Using the same threshold value on various data is not effective. In this study, a threshold-free method based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) is proposed, which can avoid the abovementioned problems. A statistical model is adopted to detect clouds instead of a subjective thresholding-based method, which is the main idea of this study. The features used in a classifier is the key to a successful classification. As a result, Automatic Cloud Cover Assessment (ACCA) algorithm, which is based on physical characteristics of clouds, is used to distinguish the clouds and other objects. In the same way, the algorithm called Fmask (Zhu et al., 2012) uses a lot of thresholds and criteria to screen clouds, cloud shadows, and snow. Therefore, the algorithm of feature extraction is based on the ACCA algorithm and Fmask. Spatial and temporal information are also important for satellite images. Consequently, co-occurrence matrix and temporal variance with uniformity of the major principal axis are used in proposed method. We aim to classify images into three groups: cloud, non-cloud and the others. In experiments, images acquired by the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and images containing the landscapes of agriculture, snow area, and island are tested. Experiment results demonstrate the detection accuracy of the proposed method is better than related methods.


This paper presents a model-based approach for noise suppression of speech contaminated by additive noise. A Kalman filter based speech enhancement system is presented and its performance is investigated in detail. It is shown that with a novel speech parameter estimation algorithm, it is possible to achieve 10 dB noise suppression with a high total audible quality.


BACKGROUND and AIM: Research showed that behavioural modification techniques
were the most effective way to achieve and maintain a healthy weight compared to diet
and exercise alone. If behavioural modification was the most effective technique, then at
least the two thirds of the candidates (Weight Loss Candidate with Behaviour
Modification-WLCB) who used the specific behavioural modification techniques
regarding eating and physical activity would achieve a weight loss of average ½ -1kg per
week for the 18 weeks of the treatment and then maintain it or continue to lose after
treatment termination with a total treatment period of 36 weeks. The treatment was
efficient and long-lasting compared to the control candidates who followed a diet plan
only. Furthermore, if the use of behavioural modification was the most effective way for
diet and exercise, then the weight loss and maintenance would be more efficient and
long-lasting. The principal aim of this project was to develop behaviour modification
techniques (protocol and guidelines) in order to promote effective weight management
for sedentary and active Cypriot adults, concentrating on nutrition and exercise.
STUDY DESIGN: The study was quantitative and qualitative in nature using an action
research approach. Furthermore, it was observational and longitudinal using structured
methods and a representative sample of adults 19-50 years of age is investigated for 36
weeks.
METHODS: Anthropometric data and health and diet history were taken using standard
methods from 315 (the control and intervention group (1:1) Cypriot adults from rural and
urban areas.
Individualised diet plans, personalised physical activities as well as behavioural
modification parameters were assessed with the aid of a questionnaire, interview, food
and exercise diary and behavioural checklist. Obesity and overweight were defined using
the current International Obesity Task Force definition. The validated questionnaires for
Physical Activity (IPAQ) and the nutritional assessment (National Integrated Health
Associates) were used for initial assessment and the behavioural checklists were used for
the follow up. Behavioural checklists were completed by the candidates on a bi-weekly
basis along with the food and exercise diary. The questionnaire reliability (test-retest),
internal consistency and ability to differentiate obese vs. normal-weight adult behaviours
were tested using a pilot population of 50 adults not enrolled in a formal weight loss
programme. Its reliability (checklists, food and exercise diary) and predictive validity
were tested using a selective population: 265 adults of the observational group enrolled in
behavioural modification treatment vs. diet.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: Τhe objectives of the research were
a) The study of every aspect of weight management and thus be capable of making
suggestions for the development of guidelines and protocols for behavioural
modification to health professionals working with the public.
b) The identification and adjustment of eating and exercise behaviour related to body
weight in order to achieve an efficient weight management in Cypriot
overweight/obese adults.
c) The evaluation of the effectiveness of the modest lifestyle changes in weight
management induced by short-term energy/calorie restriction and behaviour
modification in overweight and obese Greek Cypriots with Body Mass Index (BMI)
above 25 or 30 respectively, or body weight 20% or above of Ideal Body weight
(IBW), or body fat above normal levels.
d) The development of education and counselling protocols and guidelines for
professionals for weight management protocols based on the Mediterranean Diet
and the eating and exercise habits of Cypriot Adults.
e) The implementation of the protocols to intervention groups in order to identify the
efficiency.
OUTCOMES: The outcomes of the project was the development of an education and
counselling protocol/manual which included teaching tools and guidelines for
professionals for weight management with the title "Protocol and Guidelines for
professional users for weight management for Adults: assessment, categorization,
therapy/ follow up of overweight and obesity". The development of an eating behaviour
and physical activity protocol/manual based on the Mediterranean Diet and the
demonstrated eating and exercise habits of Cypriot Adults can be used by the
stakeholders and the public for efficient and effective weight management.
RESULTS: The average length of weight loss treatment was 18 weeks for the
intervention and the control groups, and the average weight loss for the intervention
group was 11.96kg (t-test, p-value ≤ 0.001) and for the control group was 5.56kg
(t-test, p-value≤ 0.002). During the 18 weeks of the maintenance period the 50% of the
intervention group continued to lose while, an additional 48% of them maintained the
weight and only 2% of them gained weight.
CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, the prevalence of obesity worldwide has reached
epidemic proportions. Physical inactivity and poor diet have been identified as primary
contributors to the leading causes of death in developed countries including Cyprus. It is
unfortunate that more emphasis is given to calorie restriction dieting rather than
behavioural modification for diet and physical activity in achieving and maintaining
weight loss. The fact is that incorporating appropriate behavioural modification
techniques for diet and sufficient physical activity into one's life is an essential
component of achieving a healthy body weight.
The research project aimed at developing a behavioural approach and behavioural
modification techniques for the treatment of obesity and weight management adjusted to
the needs of the Cypriot adult population. The difference of this approach underlines the
emphasis that has to be given to the follow-up programme for the maintenance of the
weight loss through behavioural modification. This approach evolved from the
environmental control of eating behaviour to a broader approach characterized by
systematic manipulation of all factors associated with eating and exercise patterns. The
need for the project derives from the fact that obesity is a chronic condition with a
substantial potential for relapse; therefore long–term treatments are needed. The
expected outcomes of this project are the development of guidelines and protocols to be
used by health professionals. The ultimate goal is the reduction of the obesity epidemic
in Cyprus.


BACKGROUND Myocardial stunning is known to occur following a single episode of effort angina in patients with coronary artery disease. The effect on left ventricular (LV) function of repeated episodes of ischaemia is unknown. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of repeated episodes of exercise induced ischaemia on LV function in patients with chronic stable angina. METHODS Patients with significant coronary artery disease and normal LV function underwent two episodes of symptom limited treadmill exercise separated by three different time intervals: either 30 minutes (group A, n = 14); 60 minutes (group B, n = 14); or 240 minutes (group C, n = 14). Quantitative stress echocardiography was performed at repeated intervals between the two exercises and for 240 minutes following the second test. RESULTS For all groups there was no difference between the degree of ischaemia judged by maximal ST depression during the two tests. All episodes of exercise induced ischaemia produced prolonged abnormalities of LV systolic and diastolic function despite rapid normalisation of haemodynamic and ECG changes. In group A (30 minutes) these abnormalities were less pronounced after the second test than after the first, while in group B (60 minutes) they were more severe and long lasting. In group C (240 minutes) the two tests produced similar abnormalities of LV function. CONCLUSIONS Prolonged abnormalities of LV function occurred following exercise induced ischaemia with a time course consistent with myocardial stunning. The severity and degree of LV dysfunction caused by a further episode of ischaemia appear to be dependent on the time interval between ischaemic episodes.


In order to establish precise grinding cutter model of straight bevel gear, this study projects the spherical involute that forms tooth profile of bevel gear into the involute of circle approximately, and makes a simulation model database of bevel gear according to the principle of mechanical design on the basis of CAD mapping software. With the central projection method, processing devices and cutters of involute straight bevel gear can also be designed which has no concern with modulus. The results show that the establishment of simulation database and processing cutters can greatly facilitate the design and processing of straight bevel gear, greatly reduce the design and finishing costs, and is also helpful to teaching training of gear.


In what sense do market prices represent or convey value? At first glance, such prices might look like the upshot of spontaneous social aggregation without exogenously imposed order: uncoordinated individual trading decisions yield "price information" that is said both to induce socially efficient productive decisions and to set a framework that facilitates coherent and welfare-enhancing consumer choice. But while some trading decisions might well be uncoordinated, far from all of them are; and the rules within which trade is conducted are in any event the product of social choice. When we recognize that these rules of trade and certain public practices of trade affect the terms of trade, we cannot but ask whether the rules, the relevant practices, and the prices they partly produce can underwrite just social arrangements. The shorthand rendition of this question is when are market prices just? In this symposium contribution we set out to untangle some of the economic and philosophic issues implicated by this loaded question, and to propose a set of considerations that can aid evaluation of the justice (or otherwise) of market prices.


How much of China's recent economic performance can be attributed to market-oriented reforms introduced in the last two decades? A long-run perspective may be important for understanding the process of economic development occurring today. This paper compares the integration of rice markets in China today and 270 years ago. In the 18th century, transport technology was non-mechanized, but markets were close to being free markets. We distinguish local harvest and weather from aggregate sources of price variation in a historical sample and in a similarly constructed contemporary sample. Findings indicate the degree of market integration in the 1720s is a very good predictor of per capita income in the 1990s. Moreover, the current pattern of interregional income in China is strongly linked to persistent geographic factors that were already apparent several centuries ago, well before the enactment of modern reform programs.


Network-on-chip has been proposed in System-on-Chip to achieve high performance, reusability and scalability through generating application specific topologies. Application specific topologies are irregular in structure and take into account certain factors like communication weight, area and energy constraints while building up the topology. Regular topologies like 2D mesh, spidergon are more structured and are built not considering much about the system characteristics and other requirements. Consequently the throughput, power utilization and silicon area vary depending on the topology. This paper provides an evaluation of the performance measures of the regular topological structures and irregular application specific NoC.


The Model Business Corporation Act and the modern Japanese Commercial Code were both created in 1950 and based on the Illinois Business Corporation Act of 1933. This little-known historical quirk allows an empirical test of theories of corporate law development and convergence that have recently gained prominence in the literature. Using a fifty-year historical database of nearly 30,000 corporate law provision-observations, I find that despite globalization pressures, these corporate laws have diverged over time. I also find that the common provisions among jurisdictions appear largely to be limited to less significant enabling (non-mandatory) rules, which may further structural diversity. The finding of divergence between the corporate laws of Japan and the United States is especially interesting given the similar economic status of the countries, extensive interaction, and similar corporate and securities law starting points that evolution-toward-efficiency and path dependence theory suggests would foster similar patterns of statutory development. This Article attempts to identify precisely which institutions lead to such divergence. Through an archeological study of the development of Japanese corporate law, I argue that a likely explanation for this divergence is the tendency of the Japanese system to rely on exogenous shocks to stimulate statutory change. A substantial explanation for Japan's reliance on exogenous shocks lies in Japan's institutions, particularly in its lack of jurisdictional competition. Continued institutional differences suggest persistent corporate law divergence despite international competition.


This paper seeks to explore where design might best focus its efforts with respect to contemporary concerns about sustainability, particularly in view of the magnitude and nature of change required. The discussion traces the long entrenchment, over several centuries, of assumptions, conventions and outlooks that resulted in a shift in worldview from traditional to modern/late-modern. This shift is not only associated with unprecedented environmental damage, but also with a narrower perspective, a loss of narrative unity, and a loss of meaning. The argument is made that, by focusing on rationalistic, techno-scientific solutions design restricts its contribution to a variety of incremental changes that actually support the continuance of a fundamentally unsustainable system. Instead, design can widen its purview and be a catalyst for more substantive change by restoring a more balanced approach to products and processes in context; thereby contributing to a recovery of narrative unity and meaning.


This thesis addresses two fundamental problems associated with performing incremental attribute evaluation in multi-user editors based on the attribute grammar formalism: (1) multiple asynchronous modifications of the attributed derivation tree, and (2) segmentation of the tree into separate modular units. Solutions to these problems make it possible to construct semantics-based editors for use by teams of programmers developing or maintaining large software systems. Multi-user semantics-based editors improve software productivity by reducing communication costs and snafus.
The objectives of an incremental attribute evaluation algorithm for multiple asynchronous changes are that (a) all attributes of the derivation tree have correct values when evaluation terminates, and (b) the cost of evaluating attributes necessary to reestablish a correctly attributed derivation tree is minimized. We present a family of algorithms that differ in how they balance the tradeoff between algorithm efficiency and expressiveness of the attribute grammar. This is important because multi-user editors seem a practical basis for many areas of computer-supported cooperative work, not just programming. Different application areas may have distinct definitions of efficiency, and may impose different requirements on the expressiveness of the attribute grammar. The characteristics of the application domain can then be used to select the most efficient strategy for each particular editor.
To address the second problem, we define an extension of classical attribute grammars that allows the specification of interface consistency checking for programs composed of many modules. Classical attribute grammars can specify the static semantics of monolithic programs or modules, but not inter-module semantics; the latter was done in the past using ad hoc techniques. Extended attribute grammars support programming-in-the-large constructs found in real programming languages, including textual inclusion, multiple kinds of modular units and nested modular units. We discuss attribute evaluation in the context of programming-in-the-large, particularly the separation of concerns between the local evaluator for each modular unit and the global evaluator that propagates attribute flows across module boundaries. The result is a uniform approach to formal specification of both intra-module and inter-module static semantic properties, with the ability to use attribute evaluation algorithms to carry out a complete static semantic analysis of a multi-module program.


Abstract. An overview of the charts of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea is given. It was explained the way Adriatic Sea is spreading in accordance to Mediterranean Sea. Its importance throughout history of Europe was emphasised. Through centuries there were different maps of Europe and Mediterranean Sea. Important graphical representation were also charts/portolans which were a strong help in vessels navigation. In classical period peripluses were drawn and used mostly by Greeks for navigation. Two very famous works representing coast of the Adriatic Sea – Geography of Claudius Ptolemy and Tabula Peutingeriana were explained. Most of the paper is dedicated to portolans and their usage for navigation on eastern Adriatic coast. An overview of most important cartographers of portolans was given. In detail was described Ottoman cartographer of portolans Piri Reis. His symbology usage was analysed and compared to Symbols and abbreviations used on charts (INT 1) content.


Electrochemical separation offers an energy-efficient means to desalinate brackish water, a relatively untapped but increasingly utilized water source for freshwater supply. Several electrochemical techniques are being developed to enable low-energy desalination combined with energy storage. We report a new approach that produced a peak power density of 6.0 mW cm-2 from the energy stored in iron cyanide (Fe-CN) and iron citrate (Fe-Cit) redox couples during water desalination, using asymmetric redox flow batteries (RFBs). Desalination and the charging of the redox couples occurred in a four-channel RFB cell. The stored energy was extracted in a two-channel RFB cell. Desalination of model brackish water (2.9 g L-1) to freshwater (0.5 g L-1) was also studied in a symmetric system using the environmentally benign Fe-Cit. The process was characterized by low energy consumption (0.56 kW h m-3), high productivity (41.1 L freshwater m-2 area h-1, representing practical operating conditions for brackish water desalination), and high water recovery (91% product-to-intake water ratio, addressing the environmental and economic challenges of brine disposal). The low cell voltage (<0.5 V) required in the reported system is ideally suited for developing modular desalination systems powered by renewables, including solar energy. Collectively, water-based RFBs for desalination and power production would lead to sustainable water-energy infrastructure.


Resistance bands are often used in resistance training programs for older adults. Despite their widespread use, there is a lack of objective assessment of the actual strength, speed and precision of the movements during these exercises. Therefore, this paper presents the development of a sensorised resistance-band and a preliminary trial of activities classification by using artificial intelligence. The results show that in the preliminary trial, the classification accuracy of 4 different activities reached over 96% using accelerometer data only. A future study will be based on the sensorised resistance band to quantify resistance band exercises objectively in elderly people.


To manufacture the micro parts or micro structures effectively and precisely, a high precision 3-axis micro milling machine is built. All the three axis are driven by linear piezoelectric ultrasonic motors and the slides are supported by cross-roller guide. Investigations are firstly made to analyze the impact of the non-linear characteristics in the servo mechanism on the performance of the servo system. To achieve the positioning and tracking accuracy at sub-micrometer and micrometer level respectively, on one hand, a optical linear encoder with the resolution of 50nm is applied to close the control loop and a high performance DSP based motion control card is used to carried out the reference command. On the other hand, sophisticated control and compensation strategies are also implemented to overcome the non-linear characteristics in the servo system. Positioning and tracking experiments show that, with this well-tuned control system, the positioning and tracking accuracy are ±0.5μm and ±2.4μm respectively. Using this machine, a micro part with 5μm thin-walled structure is machined successfully.


Youth is the major assets of a nation, we need to channel their energy accordingly and dissipate it appropriately for the benefits of a nation and humanity as a whole. Social media has how become indispensable in our societies. Most of the major social media are predominated by the youth, exploiting it for one purpose or the other. In this paper we analyzed how youth could constructively, the role of social media and it's how it build a nation and achieve a promising future not only for themselves but equality for the upcoming generations using Neutrosophic cognitive maps. This paper has four sections. In section one, we give an introduction about Pervasive social Media, Section two we recall the definition of Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps (NCMs) Section three is deals with the methods of finding the hidden pattern in NCMs and analysis of Features or Characters of Youth and Youth Activism. In final section we give the conclusion based on our study.


For over an decade, one of the well identified problem within audio production environments is the effective retrieval and management of sound libraries. Most of the self-recorded and commercially produced sound libraries are usually well structured in terms of meta-data and textual descriptions and thus allowing traditional text-based retrieval approaches to obtain satisfiable results. However, traditional information retrieval techniques pose limitations in retrieving ambiguous sound collections (ie. sounds with no identifiable origin, foley sounds, synthesized sound effects, abstract sounds) due to the difficulties in textual descriptions and the complex psychoacoustic nature of the sound. Early psychoacoustical studies propose perceptual acoustical qualities as an effective way of describing these category of sounds[1]. In Music Information Retrieval (MIR) studies, this problem were mostly studied and explored in context of content-based audio retrieval. However, we observed that most of the commercial available systems in the market neither integrated advanced content-based sound descriptions nor the visualization and interface design approaches evolved in the last years. Our research was mainly aimed to investigate two things; 1. Development of audio retrieval system incorporating high level timbral features as search parameters. 2. Investigate user-centered approach in integrating these features into audio production pipelines using expert-user studies. In this project, We present an prototype which is similar to traditional sound browsers (list-based browsing) with an added functionality of filtering and ranking sounds by perceptual timbral features such as brightness, depth, roughness and hardness. Our main focus was on the retrieval process by timbral features. Inspiring from the recent focus on user-centered systems ([2], [3]) in the MIR community, in-depth interviews and qualitative evaluation of the system were conducted with expert-user in order to identify the underlying problems. Our studies observed the potential applications of high-level perceptual timbral features in audio production pipelines using a probe system and expert-user studies. We also outlined future guidelines and possible improvements to the system from the outcomes of this research.


The Evergreen State College Library makes every effort to observe copyright law while allowing fair use of its materials in an educational setting.


This essay argues that the complete harmonisation of transfer pricing rules with the arm's length principle is unattainable for three reasons. First, states are not under a legal obligation to apply the principle outside of treaty or domestic law. Second, the theoretical shortcomings of the principle are creating a divergence from the OECD guidelines on how the principle should be applied. Third, the perception held by states that multinational enterprises are not paying a fair share of tax is also creating a divergence from the OECD guidelines on the principle. The resultant divergence is a significant obstacle to transfer pricing harmonisation.


This report on water resource management challenges in the Ganges-Brahmaputra River Basin is the result of a policy research project conducted in 1989-90 supported in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation. This research was also supported in part by the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation. The policy research project was designed to explore issues developed through a conference on water resource cooperation between Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. This report supplements the conference volume by describing the general background of the basin and examining two selected issues in detail: hydroelectric development and deforestation. A final chapter examines the legal issues involved in bilateral and multilateral cooperation and presents two draft treaties that could serve as a framework for international cooperation.


Wavelet transform modulus maxima can be used to characterise sharp variations such as edges and contours in an image. The authors analyse the a priori constraints present in the wavelet transform modulus maxima representation. A new projection-based algorithm which enforces all the a priori constraints in the representation is proposed. Quadratic programming is used to obtain a sequence which satisfies the maxima constraint, thus realising the projection onto the maxima constraint space. To save computation, an approximate method to obtain a sequence which satisfies the maxima constraint is given. The new algorithm is shown to provide better solution than the original reconstruction algorithm of Mallat and Zhong. The authors also propose a simple method to accelerate the algorithm. The acceleration is achieved by the incorporation of a momentum term which exploits the high correlation between the difference images between two consecutive iterations. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm gives good reconstruction and the simple acceleration method can significantly improve the convergence rate.


Consider the problem of signal detection via multiple distributed noisy sensors. We study a linear decision fusion rule of [Z. Quan, S. Cui, and A. H. Sayed, ¿Optimal Linear Cooperation for Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks,¿ IEEE J. Sel. Topics Signal Process., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 28-40, Feb. 2008] to combine the local statistics from individual sensors into a global statistic for binary hypothesis testing. The objective is to maximize the probability of detection subject to an upper limit on the probability of false alarm. We propose a more efficient solution that employs a divide-and-conquer strategy to divide the decision optimization problem into two subproblems. Each subproblem is a nonconvex program with a quadratic constraint. Through a judicious reformulation and by employing a special matrix decomposition technique, we show that the two nonconvex subproblems can be solved by semidefinite programs in a globally optimal fashion. Hence, we can obtain the optimal linear fusion rule for the distributed detection problem. Compared with the likelihood-ratio test approach, optimal linear fusion can achieve comparable performance with considerable design flexibility and reduced complexity.


The relationship of biologically relevant molecules to their aqueous environment remains an active area of current research. In this dissertation, I present research biologically relevant molecules in an aqueous environment using X-ray spectroscopy and accompanying calculations. Chapter 1 is a more thorough introduction to the topic of near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy with stress on the experimental set up used, and computational methods. Additionally, in Chapter 1 there is a more detailed outline on the topics in subsequent chapters.Chapters 2 and 3 detail an examination of the model system of carboxylate (CH3COO-) with a variety of metals. These studies were to examine the preferential ion pairing of different cations by NEXAFS. In chapter 2, I investigate the interactions of carboxylate with the monovalent cations lithium, sodium, and potassium; chapter 3, is an examination of the strength of interactions of carboxylate with the following divalent cations: magnesium, calcium, strontium, copper, manganese, and zinc. During the course of my graduate work, the need for improved computational results became apparent. The development of the current technique employed within my research group is detailed within Chapter 4 using prototypical gas phase molecules as example systems.In chapter 5, I compare both experimental and computational results of a monopeptide, alanine, compared to one of its synthetic analogues, a monopeptoid, sarcosine. These results compare the spectral importance of hydration versus conformation, in addition to conclusions concerning the spectral impact of microhydration versus bulk hydration.I present preliminary results for other biological molecules in Chapter 6. The molecules studied are the amino acids arginine and valine, and the RNA nucleobases uracil and cytosine, and their respective nucleosides, uridine and cytidine. The chapter includes both preliminary experimental and theoretical spectra.In Chapter 7, I look to the future with a brief discussion of improvements and advice to future coworkers.


Emotion is emerging as a central concept in tourism research, critical for the delivery of memorable tourism experiences. However, existing approaches in tourism do not adequately explain the process by which emotions are elicited. Recent advances in cognitive and neuropsychology demonstrate that emotions are elicited through an appraisal process, which occurs in the cortex of the brain. These processes produce chemical monoamine neurotransmitters that lead to bodily feelings, which in turn enable our brain to recognise emotions. This research note draws on Lövheim's Cube, a self-report scale that provides a proxy indicator of the likely presence of monoamine neurotransmitters of serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline. Six images of the Great Barrier Reef were used as a stimuli in an online panel survey (n = 1249). Results demonstrate that images used by tourism stakeholders are likely to produce stronger neurological reactions than images from an environmental non-governmental organisation. Combining recent advances in self-report methods with a neurocognitive approach has the propensity to offers additional insight into emotional reactions to visual stimuli. Further research should focus on the efficacy of utilising self-report measures with cutting edge psychophysiological techniques, such as ambulatory electroencephalography (EEG) to open the door to the next frontier in tourism emotion research.


Femtocell is a promising cost-effective technology to provide the hotspot coverage especially in buildings. Due to the high density of femtocells in urban environment, the need to reuse the scarce spectrum results in co-channel interference. In this paper, we propose a graph-based distributed scheme to manage radio resources efficiently among femtocells, achieving a good tradeoff between system throughput and user fairness. After the interference graph is generated, each femtocell first uses certain number of resources randomly. Then, femtocells may apply for more resources with the given probability. Our simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in terms of throughput and fairness.


By exploring sensing, computing, and communication capabilities on vehicles, vehicular cyber-physical systems (VCPS) are promising solutions to provide road safety and traffic efficiency in intelligent transportation systems. Due to high mobility and sparse network density, VCPS could be severely affected by intermittent connectivity. In this paper, we propose a trajectory-driven opportunistic routing (TDOR) protocol, which is primarily applied for sparse networks, e.g., delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTNs). With geographic routing protocol designed in DTNs, existing works primarily consider the proximity to destination as a criterion for next-hop selections. Differently, by utilizing GPS information of on-board vehicle navigation system to help with data transmission, TDOR selects the relay node based on the proximity to trajectory. This aims to provide reliable and efficient message delivery, i.e., high delivery ratio and low-transmission overhead. TDOR is more immune to disruptions, due to unfavorable mobility of intermediate nodes. Performance evaluation results show TDOR outperforms well-known opportunistic geographic routing protocols, and achieves much lower routing overhead for comparable delivery ratio.


Background Although high fruit and vegetable intakes and high vitamin C intake may protect against type 2 diabetes risk, recent evidence in adults has suggested that circulating vitamin C levels, rather than fruit and vegetable intake, could be particularly important. However, the influence of these factors on emerging type 2 diabetes risk in childhood (particularly insulin resistance) has not been reported. We therefore examined these associations in children, including their contributions to emerging ethnic differences in insulin resistance. Methods This investigation is based on a cross-sectional, school-based survey in UK children aged 9–10 years, predominantly of white European, South Asian and black African origin from London, Birmingham and Leicester. Children provided a detailed 24-hour dietary recall (collected by a trained nutritionist) providing intakes of fruit, vegetables and vitamin C, had detailed measurements of body composition and provided a fasting blood sample for measurements of plasma vitamin C, serum insulin, plasma glucose, HbA1c and other metabolic markers; homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) insulin resistance was also derived. Multilevel linear regression models were fitted to provide adjusted means and differences in risk factors. Results Among 2025 participants (68% response rate), intakes of fruit, vegetables and vitamin C showed no associations with markers of insulin resistance, though plasma vitamin C showed an inverse association. In age, gender, month, adiposity and school adjusted analyses, a 1 interquartile range increase in plasma vitamin C level was associated with 9.22% (95% CI 6.25, 12.11%) lower HOMA insulin resistance, 0.75% (95% CI 0.32, 1.18%) lower fasting glucose, a 4.11% (95% CI 2.78, 5.42%) lower urate and 2.26% (95% CI 1.03, 3.51%) higher HDL-cholesterol and (less consistently) a 0.62% (95% CI 0.24, 1.0%) higher HbA1c. Further adjustments for socio-economic status and physical activity did not substantially alter the results. Plasma vitamin C levels were markedly lower among South Asian children; higher levels of HOMA insulin resistance in South Asian children (particularly in Bangladeshis) could be at least partly accounted for (˜20%) by lower plasma vitamin C levels. Conclusion Plasma vitamin C levels (but not fruit, vegetable or vitamin C intakes) are independently associated with insulin resistance in childhood, a consistent pattern to what has been shown in adult studies. Further studies are needed to establish whether this association is causal and can provide a basis for type 2 diabetes prevention.


Endovenous recanalization with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stenting in post-thrombotic syndrome patients with iliocaval obstruction is a treatment modality quickly gaining popularity. Studies show good patency and clinical success rates. If the obstruction extends distally, below the inguinal ligament, stenting remains controversial. Without adequate inflow, the patency of stented iliocaval segments drops dramatically. This suggests that treatment of diseased common femoral, femoral and profunda femoral veins is required to ensure adequate inflow. Endophlebectomy, the removal of synechiae and septae from the common femoral vein, is a viable option in these cases. Another option, which can be done concurrently with the endophlebectomy, is the creation of an arteriovenous fistula. Selecting patients for these interventions however remains difficult, as precise preoperative prediction of inflow into the stented segments is difficult. In this paper we describe our experience in using duplex ultrasonography, magnetic resonance venography and conventional venography to assess the patency of the inflow trajectory. We believe this approach is essential in dealing with cases of complex post-thrombotic disease extending below the inguinal ligament. There is a great need to establish criteria to accurately assess pre- and postinterventional flow through treated vein segments.


We have isolated a recombinant phage harboring the canine CALC-I/alpha-CGRP gene. The gene spans a region of approx. 5.3 kb and consists of six exons with sizes ranging from 95 bp (exon 2) and 494 bp (exon 4). By alternative splicing, two transcripts with ORFs of 390 and 384 nt are generated. These encode either the 32-amino acid-long hormone calcitonin (CALC) or the neurotransmitter calcitonin gene-related peptide (alpha-CGRP) with a length of 37 amino acids after proteolytic processing of precursor molecules. The canine calcitonin precursor consists of 130 amino acids with a molecular mass of 14.05 kDa and a statistical pI of 8.0, whereas the deduced alpha-CGRP precursor harbors 128 amino acids with a molecular mass of 13.87 kDa and a statistical pI of 8.6. Both polypeptides have a common N-terminal region of 76 amino acids that is encoded by exons 2 and 3 and separated by different eight (CALC) or six (alpha-CGRP) amino acid spacers from the biologically active polypeptide. The CALC-I/alpha-CGRP gene is a member of the calcitonin gene family and was assigned to chromosome CFA 16q25.1. A comparative analysis of different dog breeds revealed a breed-specific allelic d(CAGGAG)-hexanucleotide expansion in exon 3. This expansion results in an elongation of the common N-terminal region by two amino acids (glutamine-glutamic acid) and alters the molecular mass to 14.31 kDa (pI 7.9) and 14.13 kDa (pI 8.5) of the calcitonin and alpha-CGRP precursor, respectively.


Bioplar stimulating electrodes were placed bilaterally in the posterior hypothalamus of rats following which the animals were shaped for intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS). When ICSS rates were stable for 1 wk, the right middle cerebral artery was ligated. During the 25-day postinfarction period, the rate of ICSS at specified current values was compared with preoperative rates. At 2 days after operation, there was a 33% decrease in the maximum frequency of ipsilateral ICSS. However, by 8 days after experimental stroke, there was a 16% increase in the maximal rate of ICSS above the preoperative value, and the rate returned to control levels by 20 days after surgery. The minimum current necessary to elicit the maximal rate of response also changed in a biphasic manner, i.e., the minimum required current was greater than preoperative control levels until 8 days after operation but then dropped below control level until 20 days postoperatively. There were no changes in the current or rate of response in the contralateral electrode. These results are discussed in relation to what may be the underlying neurophysiological changes causing these biphasic alterations in ICSS.


The fluid simulation of Small Size Divertor Tokamak (SSDT) plasma edge by the B2-SOLPS5.0 2D [1] transport code gives the following results: First, in the vicinity of separatrix the radial electric field result is not close to the neoclassical electric field. Second, the shear of radial electric field is independent on plasma parameters. Third, switching on poloidal drifts (E×B and diamagnetic drifts) leads to asymmetric parallel and poloidal fluxes from outer to inner plates and upper part of SOL for normal direction of toroidal magnetic field. Fourth, for the normal direction of toroidal magnetic, the radial electric field of SSDT is affected by the variation in temperature heating of plasma. Fifth, the parallel flux is directed from inner to outer plate in case of discharge without neutral beam injection (NBI).


The analysis and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be based on genetic variations, e.g., single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and phenotypic traits, e.g., Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) features. We consider two important and related tasks: i) to select genetic and phenotypical markers for AD diagnosis and ii) to identify associations between genetic and phenotypical data. While previous studies treat these two tasks separately, they are tightly coupled because underlying associations between genetic variations and phenotypical features contain the biological basis for a disease. Here we present a new sparse Bayesian approach for joint association study and disease diagnosis. In this approach, common latent features are extracted from different data sources based on sparse projection matrices and used to predict multiple disease severity levels; in return, the disease status can guide the discovery of relationships between data sources. The sparse projection matrices not only reveal interactions between data sources but also select groups of biomarkers related to the disease. Moreover, to take advantage of the linkage disequilibrium (LD) measuring the non-random association of alleles, we incorporate a graph Laplacian type of prior in the model. To learn the model from data, we develop an efficient variational inference algorithm. Analysis on an imaging genetics dataset for the study of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) indicates that our model identifies biologically meaningful associations between genetic variations and MRI features, and achieves significantly higher accuracy for predicting ordinal AD stages than the competing methods.


The oxidation of lignin model compounds was studied in conventional solvents in parallel with oxidations in ionic liquid solvents. Catalyst systems were investigated in ionic liquid solvents to determine how reaction rates and the selectivity for benzylic carbon oxidation were affected. Oxidation rates were often lower in ionic liquids than in conventional solvents – as indicated by lower conversion in a standard reaction time – likely due, at least in part, to the higher viscosity of ionic liquids. Selectivity of the TPPFeCl/t-BuOOH catalyst system for oxidation of the benzylic C–OH versus benzylic C–H was higher in the ionic liquids tested than in conventional solvents.


ABSTRACT This study unravels the implications of outmigration for farm labour availability, managerial feminization, women's agency, and farm production. Findings suggest that migration contributes to increased off-farm income, with higher income from international migration. While men's labour contribution declines in migrant households, women's labour increases in the majority of production stages. Women's salaried work declines while their unpaid work increases. Both farm labour and management are feminized. Through two-stage least squares, results indicate a negative association between increased women's work burden and rice yield. Farm inputs and hiring labour contribute to higher yield, but remittances are not generally used for this purpose. This paper provides insights on agricultural feminization as a result of migration and underscores its nexus to farm production.


Abstract Background and aims : Iranian lifting guidelines are used as a risk assessment tool to prevent back pain in various industries. It is believed that the tools and methods used for the assessment should be simple and yet accurate.Given that this guideline adopted the American Conference of Governmental Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit values (TLVs) for lifting as allowable load limits and the accuracy of the allowable weight values has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of trunk angle and anthropometric dimensions on the accuracy of the allowable weight limits. Methods : In this study, 25 workers who had experience in manual handling were asked to perform lifting tasks in accordance with the Iranian guidelines. The subjects' anthropometric and trunk inclination angles were recorded using a triaxial accelerometer (inclinometer) for each task, and the compressive forces were estimated using 3DSSPP and then compared with NIOSH's recommended limits (3400N). Results : The results showed that among 25 tasks, the mean trunk angle of 13 tasks was between 90 and 130 degrees. Statistically, considering a standard deviation above the determined mean, the average compressive forces estimated for 9 tasks were greater than NIOSH recommendation (3400). Conclusion : In most tasks, vertical height and horizontal distance of external loads from the body leads to awkward postures that can be the main reasons for increased compressive force. Lack of adaption in some anthropometric measurements would result in increased mechanical loads on the back. Therefore, it seems that the limit values for Iranian lifting guideline are not sufficiently accurate to assess the risk of back injuries and thus should be revised.


A novel and high-performance foldable solid-state supercapacitor has been developed based on nitrogen-containing polyaniline-based carbon nanosphere (C-PANI) coated carbon cloth electrodes and the AQSA-Na (anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid sodium salt) redox mediator doped PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)–H2SO4 robust gel film electrolyte. The foldable solid-state supercapacitor demonstrates outstanding electrochemical performance such as a large specific capacitance of 430 F g−1 at a current density of 0.8 A g−1, a remarkably high energy density of 33.4 W h kg−1 at a power density of 600 W kg−1 and excellent cycling stability with 90% specific capacitance retention after 1000 cycles. Simultaneously, the high flexibility of the as-fabricated solid-state supercapacitor enabled it to work under both normal and folding conditions, and the device could be folded/unfolded repeatedly up to 500 times with only a small capacitance loss of 9%. These results indicate that the as-fabricated solid-state supercapacitor is suitable for highly fold-tolerant high-energy-density energy storage device applications. More importantly, owing to the solid-state and integrated configuration, several supercapacitors can be conveniently interconnected together in series or parallel to improve the output potential or current.


Book laws are gaining momentum as a cultural policy tool in Europe. The EU has for some time contested price regulations of the national book industries in the form of fixed book prices as exemptions from free competition. However, fixed price regulations in the form of a book law, are accepted, as it is a cultural policy law, and therefore a national concern. A book law is intended to preserve diversity of publications and distributions outlets, in the form of book shops, throughout the country. In addition, it is meant to preserve book production in national languages. This article presents the European countries that have a book law and fixed prices on books, and contrasts these with the Western European countries that have a free price on books, to see which regulations best protect cultural policy values. The comparison shows that free prices on books lead to increased sales of fewer titles and lower prices on selected best sellers, while fixed prices help support more titles in the market, a lower average price for all books, and maintain a magnitude of bookshops throughout the country. Measured by cultural policy indicators, our study supports the claim that book laws protect cultural policy values to a higher degree than free competition in the book industry.


Thirty years ago, the Rolling Stones swept America, taking Exile on Main Street to Main Streets across the nation. Everyone held their breath to see what would happen; the Stones' previous U.S. tour had been a chaotic circus culminating in the infamous death of a fan at Altamont. And this tour (the "Stones Touring Party") was rumored to be wilder than ever: bigger shows in major arenas, with a far larger entourage and even more drugs. Robert Greenfield went along for the ride, and came away with a riveting insider's account, called by Ian Rankin "one of the greatest rock books ever written." The reality lived up to the rumor: take one part Lee Radziwill, a dash of Truman Capote, set the scene at Hef's Playboy mansion, and toss in the county jail for good measure. That was the Stones Touring Party, the ultimate rock 'n' roll band at the height of its spectacular depravity.


Big Data applications are increasingly moving from batch-oriented execution models to stream-based models that enable them to extract valuable insights close to real-time. To support this model, an essential part of the streaming processing pipeline is data ingestion, i.e., the collection of data from various sources (sensors, NoSQL stores, filesystems, etc.) and their delivery for processing. Data ingestion needs to support high throughput, low latency and must scale to a large number of both data producers and consumers. Since the overall performance of the whole stream processing pipeline is limited by that of the ingestion phase, it is critical to satisfy these performance goals. However, state-of-art data ingestion systems such as Apache Kafka build on static stream partitioning and offset-based record access, trading performance for design simplicity. In this paper we propose KerA, a data ingestion framework that alleviate the limitations of state-of-art thanks to a dynamic partitioning scheme and to lightweight indexing, thereby improving throughput, latency and scalability. Experimental evaluations show that KerA outperforms Kafka up to 4x for ingestion throughput and up to 5x for the overall stream processing throughput. Furthermore, they show that KerA is capable of delivering data fast enough to saturate the big data engine acting as the consumer.


The role of estrogens in male physiology has become more evident, as a consequence of the discovery of human models of estrogen deficiency such as estrogen resistance or aromatase deficiency. In males, testosterone is the major source of plasma estradiol, the main biologically active estrogen, only 20% of which is secreted by the testes. Plasma estrone, 5% of which is converted to plasma estradiol, originates from tissue aromatization of, mainly adrenal, androstenedione. The plasma concentration of estradiol in males is 2-3 ng/dl and its production rate in blood is 25-40 μg/24 h; both of these values are significantly higher than in postmenopausal women. Plasma levels of estradiol do not necessarily reflect tissue-level activity as peripherally formed estradiol is partially metabolized in situ; thus, not all enters the general circulation, with a fraction remaining only locally active. Of the factors influencing plasma estradiol levels, plasma testosterone is a major determinant. However, the age-associated decrease in testosterone levels is scarcely reflected in plasma estradiol levels, as a result of increasing aromatase activity with age and the age-associated increase in fat mass. Free and bioavailable estradiol levels do decrease modestly with age as does the ratio of free testosterone to free estradiol, the latter testifying to the age-associated increasewd aromatization of testosterone. Estradiol levels are highly significantly positively related to body fat mass and more specifically to subcutaneous abdominal fat, but not to visceral (omental) fat. Indeed, aromatase activity in omental fat is only one-tenth of the activity in gluteal fat. Estrogens in males play an important role in the regulation of the gonadotropin feedback, several brain functions, bone maturation, regulation of bone resorption and in lipid metabolism. Moreover, they affect skin metabolism and are an important factor determining sex interest in man.


Simulations of the stratosphere from thirteen coupled chemistry-climate models (CCMs) are evaluated to provide guidance for the interpretation of ozone predictions made by the same CCMs. The focus of the evaluation is on how well the fields and processes that are important for determining the ozone distribution are represented in the simulations of the recent past. The core period of the evaluation is from 1980 to 1999 but long-term trends are compared for an extended period (1960–2004). Comparisons of polar high-latitude temperatures show that most CCMs have only small biases in the Northern Hemisphere in winter and spring, but still have cold biases in the Southern Hemisphere spring below 10 hPa. Most CCMs display the correct stratospheric response of polar temperatures to wave forcing in the Northern, but not in the Southern Hemisphere. Global long-term stratospheric temperature trends are in reasonable agreement with satellite and radiosonde observations. Comparisons of simulations of methane, mean age of air, and propagation of the annual cycle in water vapor show a wide spread in the results, indicating differences in transport. However, for around half the models there is reasonable agreement with observations. In these models the mean age of air and the water vapor tape recorder signal are generally better than reported in previous model intercomparisons. Comparisons of the water vapor and inorganic chlorine (Cly) fields also show a large intermodel spread. Differences in tropical water vapor mixing ratios in the lower stratosphere are primarily related to biases in the simulated tropical tropopause temperatures and not transport. The spread in Cly, which is largest in the polar lower stratosphere, appears to be primarily related to transport differences. In general the amplitude and phase of the annual cycle in total ozone is well simulated apart from the southern high latitudes. Most CCMs show reasonable agreement with observed total ozone trends and variability on a global scale, but a greater spread in the ozone trends in polar regions in spring, especially in the Arctic. In conclusion, despite the wide range of skills in representing different processes assessed here, there is sufficient agreement between the majority of the CCMs and the observations that some confidence can be placed in their predictions.


Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is produced by the anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium Clostridium botulinum. As one of the most poisonous toxins known and a potential bioterrosism agent, BoNT is characterized by a complex mode of action comprising: internalization, translocation and proteolytic cleavage of a substrate, which inhibits synaptic exocytotic transmitter release at neuro-muscular nerve endings leading to peripheral neuroparalysis of the skeletal and autonomic nervous systems. There are seven major serologically distinct toxinotypes (A–G) of BoNT which act on different substrates. Human botulism is generally caused by BoNT/A, B and E. Due to its extreme lethality and potential use as biological weapon, botulism remains a global public health concern. Vaccination against BoNT, although an effective strategy, remains undesirable due to the growing expectation around therapeutic use of BoNTs in various pathological conditions. This review focuses on the current approaches for botulism control by immunotherapy, highlighting the future challenges while the molecular underpinnings among subtypes variants and BoNT sequences found in non-clostridial species remain to be elucidated.


: This paper aims to provide an analysis of the concept Celebrity set in the context of Vietnam under the influence of globalisation. By using theoretical ideas of Cultural and Critical Studies to dissect how celebrities, especially foreign well-known personas, have been brought into the attention of Vietnamese audiences and how their images impact the everyday life of a developing yet communist country. The acceptance attitude has been going along with the apparent doubt about the possibility of causing cultural homogenisation, which seems to be a threat at the surface level rather than a critical one. Finally, a concept model to help provide an overview of the notion Celebrity is also presented. That tentative model tries to explain the way celebrities are perceived and how we should understand their role in the quotidian life through a critical lens. ABSTRACT This paper aims to provide an analysis of the concept Celebrity set in the context of Vietnam under the influence of globalisation. By using theoretical ideas of Cultural and Critical Studies to dissect how celebrities, especially foreign well-known personas, have been brought into the attention of Vietnamese audiences and how their images impact the everyday life of a developing yet communist country. The acceptance attitude has been going along with the apparent doubt about the possibility of causing cultural homogenisation, which seems to be a threat at the surface level rather than a critical one. Finally, a concept model to help provide an overview of the notion Celebrity is also presented. That tentative model tries to explain the way celebrities are perceived and how we should understand their role in the quotidian life through a critical lens.


Despite the growing collection and use of private data in the cloud, there remains a fundamental disconnect between unified data governance and the storage system enforcement techniques. On one side, high-level governance policies derived from regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have emerged with stricter rules dictating who, when and how data can be processed. On the other side, storagelevel controls, both roleor attribute-based, continue to focus on access/deny enforcement. In this paper, we propose how to bridge this gap. We introduce Deep Enforcement, a system that provides unified governance and transformation policies coupled with data transformations embedded into the storage fabric to achieve policy compliance. Data transformations can vary in complexity, from simple redactions to complex differential privacy-based techniques to provide the required amount of anonymization. We show how this architecture can be implemented into two broad classes of data storage systems in the cloud: object storages and SQL databases. Depending on the complexity of the transformation, we also demonstrate how to implement them either in-line (on data access) or off-line (creating an alternate cached dataset).


Abstract : Globalstar and Iridium will provide valuable global communications assets for business, humanitarian aid and military operations. However, the level of coverage and the quality of the transmission path of these systems are strongly dependent on the latitude of the user and, due to their orbital characteristics, both systems provide reduced levels of coverage at low latitudes. Additionally, the L- and S-Band frequencies utilized by these systems are prone to ionospheric interference at low latitudes. The results of extensive simulation analysis indicate that the Globalstar constellation architecture provides a considerably better transmission path than Iridium's in several important areas, including path elevation angles, satellite visibility and susceptibility to ionospheric effects. To assist future study, a unique set of equations has been developed which describe the distribution of Iridium and Globalstar path elevation angles entirely as a function of the user's latitude. In addition to the differences in path elevation angles, modeling indicates that ionospheric scintillation is a potentially serious problem for both systems. However, Globalstar is expected to suffer lower fade levels than Iridium due to its higher downlink frequency and multiple path availability. The research concludes that, within the scope of the analysis, Globalstar provides a higher quality transmission path for low to mid-latitude users.


The L-type neutral amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1/SLC7A5) is one of 7 light chains that can form a heteromeric amino acid transporter (HAT) with the type II single pass glycoprotein CD98hc (SLC3A2). LAT1-CD98hc transports essential amino acids and some of their catabolites, such as tryptophan, methionine and kynurenine, across the plasma membranes of normal and cancer cells. It is also a drug transporter, carrying drugs such as gabapentin and L-DOPA across the blood brain barrier. The atypical heterodimeric nature of LAT1-CD98hc and its role in disease and drug delivery, motivate the structural characterisation of the HAT. Sequence analysis revealed two putative cholesterol binding motifs conserved between dDAT and LAT1 as well as 32 putative CRAC/CARC motifs. The crystal structures of various bacterial homologues of LAT1 were used for structure prediction, in order to visualise these putative cholesterol binding motifs and assess their plausibility. Here is presented the first binding mode analysis of ligands to the inward facing occluded conformation of LAT1. Substrates had lower predicted free energies of binding to the inward facing conformation compared to the outward open. The putative gating residue F252 may play a role in binding to aromatic substrates via p-p stacking in the outward open conformation and with all substrates via p-cation bonding with their amino termini in the inward facing occluded conformation. Based on the docking analysis, inhibitors of LAT1, JPH203 and SKN203 are predicted to transportable substrates of the transporter and KMH233 a non-transportable competitive inhibitor with a unique binding mode. LAT1 was overexpressed in HEK293 cells and co-purified with CD98hc to a sufficient biochemical homogeneity for structural characterisation. The role of cholesterol hemisuccinate in stabilizing detergent solubilized LAT1-CD98hc was established. Detergent solubilized and purified LAT1-CD98hc was subject to structural analysis by single particle electron cryo-microscopy to a resolution of 12 A. Multibody 3D auto-refinement and principal component analysis revealed flexibility and limited interaction between CD98hc ectodomain and LAT1, contrary to predictions based on homology to LAT2-CD98hc. Docking of CD98hc allowed for visualisation and generation of molecular movies of the structural dynamics of LAT1- CD98hc ectodomain, based on these the ectodomain of CD98hc seems tethered to LAT1 via the inter-subunit disulphide bond and interaction between their transmembrane domains.


Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) inspection is a common method for detecting inner corrosions of oil-gas pipelines; the Hall Effect element is the core sensor of MFL inspections. The Hall sensor is sensitive to temperature, so environmental changes will lead to output error of Hall sensors. In order to compensate for temperature errors of Hall sensors, a segment of oil-gas pipeline with diameter 6 inch was taken as a research object. A fusion model including 50 Hall sensors and 1 temperature sensor was built up, and a functional link artificial neural network optimized by the artificial immune algorithm was used to fuse the output data of the multiple sensors. The lab research results show that the artificial immune algorithm can improve training speed and precision of the functional link neural network; the model built up can compensate effectively for temperature errors of Hall sensors and under the conditions of changing temperature, the precision of magnetic flux inspections of pipelines to detect corrosions can be improved significantly.


Sporadic lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare multisystem disorder affecting approximately 3 to 8 per million women. Our patient, a 42-year-old nulligravida Hispanic female with recurrent pneumothoraces presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with a chief complaint of shortness of breath and exertional chest tightness that progressively worsened over four days. Upon arrival to the ED she was tachypneic and hypoxic, with chest x-ray revealing large bilateral pneumothoraces and chest computed tomography (CT) from a previous encounter showed dozens of air-filled cavities in both lungs. Already possessing the diagnosis of LAM upon presentation and having had her most recent pneumothorax 3 months prior, our patient reported to the hospital once she recognized her symptoms as another relapse. Cavitated cystic blebs within the lung parenchyma are believed to be the reason behind recurrent pneumothoraces in those with LAM, such as with our patient. The importance of educating patients with rare conditions is illustrated in this case. Our patient was aware of the importance of going to an ED upon onset of dyspnea due to her condition, and was therefore able to receive appropriate care.


Analysis of results of investigations of the energy gap Δ in oxide high-Tc superconductors by the methods of the tunnel effect, electron photoemission, IR absorption, Raman scattering of light, and others, indicates satisfactory agreement of results obtained by different methods. For all the oxide superconductors with Tc 30 K the ratio 2Δ/kTc = 5–6 is significantly greater than the value predicted by the BCS theory. The deviations of the experimental data near the edge and the bottom of the gap from the values that follow from the traditional model for the distribution in energy of the excitations are within the limits of accuracy of the measurements. The data obtained do not contradict the ideas concerning the electron-phonon mechanism of superconductivity in the oxide superconductors that have been investigated.


Abstract. A newly designed intraoral swept source cross-polarization optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT) imaging system was used to examine the integrity of the subsurface enamel below resin composite restorations placed in primary teeth. CP-OCT analysis was performed using images obtained from resin composite restoration in 62 (n=62) pediatric subjects. Clinical examination was performed by a single examiner prior to CP-OCT imaging and analysis. CP-OCT images are presented using a unique combined intensity image, where a false color scale is overlaid on the grayscale intensity image. There was a clear difference in the distribution of the mean-backscattered intensity (mR) between restorations recently placed and those possessing frank cavitation (Student's t-test, P<0.0001). For mR above 15.49 dB, the sensitivity was 80% and specificity 86%. The Youden index J was 0.8 above 12.3 dB where sensitivity was 100% and specificity was 80%. CP-OCT imaging may be used to confirm the subsurface marginal integrity below resin composite restorations but with careful consideration of limitations of the imaging modality. CP-OCT imaging may be a useful adjunct to clinical visual investigation to confirm that a composite margin has a sound and well-adapted interface.


SCIENCE FUNDINGMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA-- Academic scientists are hoping that two new reports calling for increased funding of research and education and an improved climate for commercializing new technology will finally boost an R&D budget that has been stagnant since 1996. One report argues for a variety of measures to reduce the country's reliance on such low-tech commodities as agriculture and precious metals and stimulate innovation. The second report, based on an innovation summit held in February, recommends spending $1.4 billion over 5 years on research, facilities, and education.


As we all known, confidentiality is the primary demand for sensitive information system, while integrity is as important as it, so we should also protect it from being damaged. Unfortunately, there are some limits for the existing operating system models when dealing with them together. In this paper, the concept of confidentially trusted entity and reliability of integrity are proposed after a deep analysis to entities' trust. Then a security model is followed, which controls and adjusts the information flow with the help of trusted measurement, as a result, can-control bi-direction information flow is realized without reducing information system security, which is valuable.


Firms need ambidextrous marketing functions which is being capable of exploitation and exploration of markets. In this research, impact of ambidextrous marketing on market performance and financial peformance is revealed using Structural Equation Model (SEM). Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) operating in information technology have been selected. For this reason, sample of the study was collected via questionnaire through 392 SME's managers and owners. According to the results of the model; marketing exploitation has significant and positive direct effect on market performance while marketing exploration has significant and positive effects on market and financial performance. When dependent variables are examined, it is revealed that market performance has significant and positive direct effect on financial performance. As a result, it is demonstrated that ambidextrous marketing has impact on market and financial peformance.


The study examines women's and men's health needs and expectations from current health services and programs. It also examines knowledge, attitude and practice of contraception, the unmet need of contraception and the quality of the family planning program. In addition it assessed the level of awareness of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases among the study population.
The sample comprised 232 men and 368 women and their distribution is similar to the distribution of the national population,, 85 per cent in the northern group and 15 per cent in the southern group of islands.A questionnaire was administered to each of the respondents.
The study showed that overall knowledge of contraception, current use, and knowledge of source of supplies of contraception are high among women particularly those who are married, educated and in paid employment. The reasons for unmet need are lack of information, opposition to the use of contraception, fatalism and unsatisfactory service.
The level of approval of providing family planning information to young people is high for both males and females. However, the proportion decrease for those who support young people's access to family planning.
Many view contraception as a female responsibility. Men, young people and the primary educated need to be targeted by the family planning program. This is also an area where shared decision making is essential because it affects contraceptive use and parenting responsibility.
Knowledge about STIs and HIV among Cook Islanders is superficial. The Cook Islands Ministry of Health needs to make people more aware about diseases, their symptoms and implications at the micro and macro levels.
The study also shows that the movement for quality care in the Pacific is young and programs and providers in the Cook Islands must seek ways and means to satisfy client needs and raise the quality of services while at the same time using the resources more efficiently.


This paper presents a case study of different fault-tolerant architectures. The emphasis is on the silicon realization. A 128 bit AES cryptographic core has been designed and fabricated as a main topology on which the fault-tolerant architectures have been applied. One of the fault-tolerant architectures is a novel four-layer architecture exhibiting a large immunity to permanent as well as random failures. Characteristics of the averaging/ thresholding layer are emphasized. Measurement results show advantage of four-layer architecture over triple modular redundancy in terms of reliability.


Evi9, a common site of retroviral integration in BXH2 murine myeloid leukemias, encodes a C2H2 zinc finger protein and is overexpressed in these leukemic cells. To investigate a possible role of EVI9 in the human hematopoietic system, we isolated the cDNA clone of the human homologue. Human EVI9, located on the chromosome 2p13 region, contains an open reading frame of 797 amino acids that is 98.7% identical to the mouse protein. RT-PCR analysis of purified human hematopoietic cells showed that EVI9 is expressed in CD34-positive myeloid precursors, B cells, monocytes, and megakaryocytes, but only weakly in T lymphocytes, suggesting that EVI9 may play an important role in hematopoiesis. Furthermore, EVI9 was down-regulated during myeloid differentiation of HL60 cells induced by all-trans-retinoic acid, whereas the expression remained during monocytic differentiation induced by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. These results indicate a distinct role for EVI9 in human hematopoietic cells and suggest that EVI9 may cause leukemia through inhibition of myeloid differentiation.


We use contingent behavior analysis to study the effects of pfiesteria-related fish kills on the demand for seafood in the Mid-Atlantic region. We estimate a set of demand difference models based on individual responses to questions about seafood consumption in the presence of fish kills and with different amounts of information provided about health risks. We use a random-effects Tobit model to control for correlation across each observation and to account for censoring. We find that (i) pfiesteria-related fish kills have a significant negative effect on the demand for seafood even though the fish kills pose no known threat to consumers through seafood consumption, (ii) seafood consumers are not responsive to expert risk information designed to reassure them that seafood is safe in the presence of a fish kill, and (iii) a mandatory seafood inspection program largely eliminates the welfare loss incurred due to misinformation.


Chronic low-grade inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (T2D) may be ameliorated with exercise and/or diet. High levels of physical activity and/or cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with reduced risk of low-grade inflammation. Both aerobic and resistance exercise have been found to improve inflammatory status, with the majority of evidence suggesting that aerobic exercise may have broader anti-inflammatory effects. In particular, aerobic exercise appears to improve the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory markers. Improvement in inflammatory status is most likely to occur in persons with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory markers prior to intervention. A number of dietary factors, including fiber-rich foods, whole grains, fruits (especially berries), omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidant vitamins (eg, C and E), and certain trace minerals (eg, zinc) have been documented to reduce blood concentrations of inflammatory markers. Anti-inflammatory foods may also help mitigate the pro-inflammatory postprandial state that is particularly evident after ingestion of meals high in saturated fat. Intensive lifestyle interventions involving both exercise and diet appear to be most effective. For the most part, anti-inflammatory effects of exercise and diet are independent of weight loss. Thus overweight and obese men and women, who are most likely to have a pro-inflammatory profile, do not necessarily have to normalize body mass index to improve inflammatory status and reduce risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.


Background: Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD) and micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and increased fracture risk. Since Panoramic image is a feasible and relatively routine imaging technique in dentistry; it could provide an opportunistic chance for screening osteoporosis. In this regard, numerous panoramic derived indices have been developed and suggested for osteoporosis screening. Jaw trabecular pattern is one of the main bone strength factors and trabecular bone pattern assessment is important factor in bone quality analysis. Texture analysis applied to trabecular bone images offers an ability to exploit the information present on conventional radiographs. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between Jaw trabecular pattern in panoramic image and osteoporosis based on image texture analyzing using local binary pattern. Material and Methods: An experiment is evaluated in this paper based on a real hand-captured database of panoramic radiograph images from osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis person in Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran .An approach is proposed for osteoporosis diagnosis consisting of two steps. First, modified version of local binary patterns is used to extract discriminative features from jaw panoramic radiograph images. Then, classification is done using different classifiers. Results: Comparative results show that the proposed approach provides classification accuracy about 99.6%, which is higher than many state-of-the-art methods. Conclusion: High classification accuracy, low computational complexity, multi-resolution and rotation invariant are among advantages of our proposed approach.


The programming complexity of increasingly parallel processors calls for new tools that assist programmers in utilising the parallel hardware resources. In this paper we present a set of models that we have developed as a part of a tool for mapping dataflow graphs onto manycores. One of the models captures the essentials of manycores, identified as suitable for signal processing, and which we use as target for our algorithms. As an intermediate representation we introduce timed configuration graphs, which describe the mapping of a model of an application onto a machine model. Moreover, we show how a timed configuration graph can be evaluated using an abstract interpretation to obtain performance feedback. This information can be used by our tool and by the programmer in order to discover improved mappings.


Cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbioses occur across a wide latitudinal range, from temperate to tropical locations in both hemispheres. In the tropics, this association provides the foundation for the development of highly diverse coral reef ecosystems. Tropical associations are particularly sensitive to thermal variability, however, leading to dysfunction of the relationship and eventual expulsion of the symbiont, known as 'coral bleaching'. In contrast, temperate associations maintain stable symbiotic relationships in highly fluctuating thermal environments. The reason behind the relative thermal tolerance of temperate associations is still unclear, though the ability to maintain cellular homeostasis through adjustments to metabolic processes is likely a core feature of their resilience.  Both a field study and laboratory experiment were conducted to determine the metabolic responses to thermal change of the symbiosis between the temperate anemone Anthopleura aureoradiata and the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium. For the field component, A. aureoradiata were collected from Point Halswell in Wellington Harbour in both summer and winter. For the laboratory experiment, specimens collected at Pautahanui inlet were thermally acclimated in the laboratory, after which temperatures were altered over the course of one week to either 8°C (cold) or 28°C (hot) and maintained at these temperatures for six weeks. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was then employed to determine the identity and relative quantity of a wide range of metabolites involved in primary metabolism including organic acids, fatty acids, amino acids and sugars. Based on these data, pathway activity profiling was used to determine the activity of different metabolic pathways both between seasons and in response to cold and heat treatment.  A wide range of changes to metabolic processes were observed in both host and symbiont. Photosynthetic capacity was reduced in the symbionts at low temperatures and increased at high temperatures. The only organic acid to be significantly impacted was propanedioic acid, which increased in the host in response to cold treatment, potentially related to increased translocation from the symbiont. Altered fatty acid content in both host and symbiont was related to the role of fatty acids as energy sources and storage compounds and in cell signalling processes. Changes in fatty acid-associated metabolic pathways were exemplified by arachidonic acid and linoleic acid metabolism. Alterations to free amino acids and amino acid related pathways in both host and symbiont were associated with their role as antioxidants and osmoprotectants and the catabolism of amino acids for the production of energy. In symbionts only, altered amino acid content was associated with the role of amino acids in the production of alkaloids. Changes in a number of sugar derivatives in both host and symbiont were associated with their role as antioxidants and osmoprotectants. Altered sugar metabolism in the symbiont clearly indicated an increase in the production of energy rich sugar molecules and production of cellular energy in summer/hot conditions and a decrease in winter/cold conditions. Notably impacted pathways included the Calvin cycle, glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway and oxidative phosphorylation. Patterns of sugar related pathway activity in the host were generally opposite to that observed in the symbiont. Overall, prominent but opposing changes in the host and symbiont were detected in the central carbohydrate and energy metabolic pathways. In general, the activity of these pathways increased in the host in winter/cold conditions and decreased in summer/hot conditions, while in the symbiont the pattern was the opposite.  These findings highlight the role of metabolic processes in enabling the persistence of a temperate cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis in the face of large temperature fluctuations. This work provides a foundation upon which a deeper understanding of metabolic functioning in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis can be built and provides a comparative platform for studies of the more thermally sensitive tropical associations.


: Recent technological advances make it possible for general practitioners to do many laboratory tests in the doctor's office. This has advantages and limitations, and a new balance must be found between testing within and outside laboratories. General practitioners will need to decide which tests to do within the practice, and laboratory staff have opportunities to become more involved in the needs and problems of general practice, so that they are able to advise on when and how tests are best performed.


A nondestructive testing method which can be used for finding lack of fusion defects in laser overlap welds every one of which joints two thin stainless steel plates is proposed based on reflection of ultrasonic Lamb wave. A B-scan testing system which implements the method is developed. Experimental testing on laser overlap welds of samples using the developed B-scan system is conducted. The results of experimental B-scan testing are compared with those of ultrasonic C-scan testing on the welds and observations on fracture surfaces of the welds. The agreements between the results of B-scan inspections and those of the other two kinds of inspections are satisfying. It is concluded that the developed B-scan technique is useable for inspections on laser overlap welds of rail vehicle bodies both in manufacture and periodical maintenance process.